I must have fallen asleep when a loud bang woke me up, startling Remi and me. The cages all around us started to weep as the kids inside them cowered in fear. More loud bangs were heard, followed by several pops, grunts, crashing glass, and familiar voices.
They were here.
My family had come.
“Remi,” I said, gently shaking her, waking her as softly as I could. “Max?”
“Hey, pretty girl. Guess what?”
“What?”
“My family is here,” I said just as more pops and a loud explosion shook the entire building we were in, rattling all the cages. Before I could say anything more, the door to the room we were in was kicked in, and in walked one of the biggest, baddest, meanest sons a bitch I knew.
My Uncle, Hellhound.
“Max!” my Uncle roared, flinging cages open as he made his way towards me. Stopping, he looked around and seeing the room for the first time. “Oh, fuck me. Hang on kids, we’ll getcha all out. Max! where are ya, boy!”
“Over here!” I yelled back, holding tightly to Remi’s hand.
My Uncle ran towards my cage. His eyes widened knowingly.
I knew what he was seeing.
There was no way to hide it.
Ashamed, I looked away.
“Don’t do that. Not ever. I mean it. You hold your head up high, look those fuckers in the eye and say fuck’em. Not today, not ever. Don’t let them win. Ya, hear me, boy?”
“Yes, sir,” I whispered and nodded.
Taking off his cut, my Uncle removed his shirt and handed it to me. I quickly put it on as he grabbed his cut, putting his arms through the vest holes. “There’s a lot of people waiting to see you. Let’s get the fuck out of here before Nitro blows this fucking place sky high.”
“Where’s dad?”
“Max? Hellhound, where’s my boy!” my father’s voice soared as he ran down the stairs into the room we were in. Instantly, a feeling of relief washed over me. He was here. I knew he’d come.
“Over here, Prez!”
“Max, is that your dad?” Remi whispered in my ear, my hand still in hers as she pointed to Hellhound with her other.
“No, Princess. I’m Max’s uncle Hellhound, but you can call me Uncle Peter, okay,” my Uncle smiled at Remi, trying to soothe her rising fear. I knew my family didn’t look like everyone else’s. They were different. I was different. We were bikers, or at least my dad, Uncle, and the other brothers were. I was still too young, but I loved the life.
“I want to go home, Uncle Peter,” Remi said, tears falling down her cheeks. My Uncle ripped the bars off her cage. Taking off his cut, he wrapped it around Remi, covering most of her. As he pulled her from the cage, Remi hugged my Uncle’s neck tightly.
“God damn, she’s so tiny. Fucking skin and bones,” my Uncle cursed as my father arrived, helping me to stand. The next thing I knew, I was engulfed in my father’s arms.
I didn’t move.
I couldn’t.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to hug him. I did. But after everything that happened, I didn’t want anyone to touch me. Ever. Standing stiffly in his arms, my father drew back and looked me in the eye.
“Max?”
“I want to go home. Now.”
“Okay, son. We’re going home, but I gotta take you to the hospital first.”
“No.”
“It’s not an option Max.” My father scowled, running his hands through his hair. “You’re going. No arguments. Your mother will meet us there. When the doc says your good to go, then we can go home. Understand.”
“I won’t go.”
“You’ll go, even if I have to drag your ass-kicking and screaming, son.”
The next thing I knew, I woke up in a clean white room. My mother was sitting by my bed, holding my hand, tears quietly falling down her cheek. I hated seeing my mother upset, and I really hated knowing I was the reason for it. Turning my head, I spotted my father, talking on his phone, pacing back and forth. He was mad. He always walked when he was furious. There were others from the family here, men I’d been raised around my whole life. All looked worried or angry. The one person who wasn’t here was Remi.
Worried, I sat up and glanced around the room. I couldn’t find her. She wasn’t here. Where was she? She needed me. She was too little to take care of herself. I was all she had. I was her only friend.
“Max, calm down,” my mother’s voice, once soothing, now grated my nerves. I needed to find Remi.
“Where is she!” I shouted, ripping the I.V. from my arm. Throwing back the blankets, I put one foot on the floor before my father was in front of me. “Max. Get the fuck back in that bed, now.”
“I need to find Remi!” I yelled, trying to get around my dad. “She’s too little. She needs me to protect her.”
“Max, Remi is fine. Hellhound is with her along with five other brothers. Nobody is going to hurt that little girl, ever again.”
Sighing, I collapsed back on the bed as everything went black again.
7 Days later…
I was going home. I didn’t want to. Remi was still in the hospital. According to my dad, she had to stay until her parents arrived. It took the police longer than expected to find her parents, but eventually they did. They were coming today.
“I’m scared, Max. What if they come back?”
“They won’t, Remi.”
“Promise?”
“I’ll special pinky promise you,” I smiled, holding out my pinky for her to grab with hers. The shock on her face made me smile. She really was a cutie. She had long, tightly curled blonde hair. Big green eyes that sparkled when she smiled, a cute button nose, and the sweetest laugh I’d ever heard. She was an angel and mine to protect.
I was right in my assumptions. Remi was eight years old. From Lincoln, Nebraska, she was the daughter of a local elementary school teacher and Bank President. She had been missing for
